


Ivory and Ebony

by The_Grynne



Category: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-22
Updated: 2008-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-03 01:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Grynne/pseuds/The_Grynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John teaches Cameron to play chess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ivory and Ebony

_The maid, feeling his kisses, raised  
shy eyes to the sun and, at a glance,  
saw daylight and his face at once._  
\- Derek Mahon, 'Pygmalion'

* * *

**Ivory and Ebony**

A game is in play. Bullet casings for missing pieces, the board lies between us.

Sixty-four multiplied by infinity: your world entire. Variables, dependent and independent, future and past, interchanging - co-evolving. Rhizomatic metaphor of time displacement trajectories.

I am white and you are black. (_Better to hide the blood._) Obedient to your rules, after every game we switch sides.

*

The very first time I laid a trap that was a success, you went completely still and then looked into my guileless eyes. _Well done_: you congratulated yourself and me. A little of the omnipresent weariness faded from your face.

Skynet did not program me for gambits; creative risk assessment and other higher level operations were not integral to my model's purpose. I remember your mouth curving in a rare smile: _Skynet didn't want to make the same mistake we did._

I did not hate, I did not fear. This I remember. I followed orders without question. If I am deceitful now, if I feel the strange uplifting of joy in victory, it is your work in me.

*

You lift your hand from the cowering black pawn.

I understand immediately. The landscape in every direction, at every turn, is unrecognisable. Metal and stone tremble still at the shock waves issuing from your newly promoted queen.

THE END


End file.
